The Lonely Cabinhttps://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/index.html Escape from the Mayhemen Sun, 10 Apr 2022 16:25:02 -0400 Sun, 10 Apr 2022 16:25:02 -0400 Walks I try to go for a walk every day, a few kilometers at least. I've been doing that for about five years now, and am well into my second pair of walking sneakers - it would probably be more if not for the necessity to wear boots six months of the year in Canada. Now that it's a habit, I actually feel physically bad when I don't get a walk in at all, or if it is late in the day and I haven't yet gone for a walk. It's probably more noticeable since I work in IT and (obviously) sit all day in front of a monitor.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/walks.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./walks.html Slugmax Sun, 10 Apr 2022 16:23:49 -0400 Buying Books and Used Bookstores Tomasino talks about buying books. I had to login to my old Amazon account which has order history back to 1997. As I recall, Amazon was selling just books back then, and my order history shows that (the first thing I bought that year was 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman). I remember that it seemed amazing at the time to be able to order almost any book at a discount - even including shipping costs it was cheaper than the big bookstores.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/buying-books-and-used-bookstores.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./buying-books-and-used-bookstores.html Slugmax Wed, 09 Mar 2022 20:24:24 -0500 Canadian Citizenship Ceremony Well it took a bit longer than we had anticipated, but my wife was finally sworn in as a Canadian citizen last week. IRCC still continues to run virtual ceremonies, via zoom. They have a decent system down now for that, the whole thing ran very smoothly and took about 90 minutes total. There were about 50 participants.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/canadian-citizenship-ceremony.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./canadian-citizenship-ceremony.html Slugmax Wed, 08 Dec 2021 13:01:14 -0500 Relic Radio I've been enjoying the relic radio podcast lately. It's a bit more convenient than listening to random archive.org old-time radio (OTR) streams, as the audio on some of those can be hard to hear. Relic Radio curates seven different genres of OTR, and from the ones I've heard, the audio is cleaned up so you don't have to struggle to listen to them. There are many old shows that are still worth listening to, I find OTR a pleasant distraction before bed.

Tags: otr, podcast

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/relic-radio.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./relic-radio.html Slugmax Mon, 18 Oct 2021 15:02:03 -0400 Canadian Housing The Canadian housing market is insane. Three years ago, you could buy a decent 4-bed house in this area of Quebec for about 250k. Now those same houses are going for 500k. A 33% increase every year! This really only helps retirees who have already paid off their homes - they can sell and downsize, skimming quite a profit from the sale. Anyone else who wants to move to the same size or larger home, or is a first-time home buyer is screwed. Just the 20% down payment is a problem. How many people can afford 100k down on that 500k, 4-bed house? Not many. It's even worse in the big cities like Vancouver and Toronto. Even if you had the down payment, and enough equity to somehow make a modest profit, I'd be reluctant to buy at what seems like the peak of a crazy market. We did that in late 2006 when we lived in the States, and regretted it when the market crashed in 2008 and we lost half of our home's value. When we eventually sold in 2016, the value of our home had crawled back enough so that we just about broke even on the sale, even with 10 years of equity behind us. Never again. We bought our current home three years ago, and we're staying put for now.

Rentals are not much better, I think renting a house used to be a good option for young families, but now it is too unstable. Landlords are kicking out renters so they can sell for a huge profit, or are having a family member move in for a year so they can renovate and massively increase rent on the next tenant (Quebec has pretty decent tenant protections, but one of the holes is that a landlord can force someone out if they or their family are moving in, or they are selling the house). Our previous landlord did that to us - she tried to get us to buy the house we had been renting for two years, but when we refused (it had lots of issues we could overlook as renters but not as owners), she told us her brother was moving in. We moved out, and she renovated while her brother was there, then more than doubled the rent to new tenants when he moved out a year later.

Tags: canada, housing

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/canadian-housing.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./canadian-housing.html Slugmax Sat, 16 Oct 2021 14:54:20 -0400 Silence I took a much-needed vacation last week and my wife and I spent some time at an off-grid cabin at one of Quebec's national parks. "Séjour en nature" they call it. This one we picked for its remoteness - on a lake, 3km from the park office. This was in southwest Quebec, in an already sparsely populated area.

It's been a long time since I remember being some place quiet. I'm not just talking low noise, I mean NO noise. On our first day we went out on the lake in a canoe, there was no wind and clear skies. The only sounds were those of nature. Birds, mostly. No highway noise, no construction, not even other people. I'd forgotten how enjoyable this can be, and even though we only spent three days there, coming back to our home in the suburbs was a bit jarring. On my return I really noticed the constant background noise. Sadly, I am sure I will acclimate to the noise again, but I'll be back to that cabin for sure. I'm jealous of those of you who live in the country full-time and don't have to deal with noise pollution.

Tags: vacation, silence

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/silence.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./silence.html Slugmax Sun, 26 Sep 2021 13:40:23 -0400 Gopher vs. Gemini, Gopher Browsing with Pale Moon, and Canadian Citizenship Update I enjoyed Visiblink's vignette about Gopherly and Geminiville.

I just wanted to add that my own gopher use/participation has waxed and waned since I've been using it (I started my phlog at SDF in 2009), and I'm not worried that gemini or some other protocol will somehow eclipse gopher. These things are cyclic and I'm sure there will be another surge in gopher use at some point, and maybe even a corresponding decrease in gemini use as the newness wears off.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/gopher-vs-gemini-gopher-browsing-with-pale-moon-and-canadian-citizenship-update.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./gopher-vs-gemini-gopher-browsing-with-pale-moon-and-canadian-citizenship-update.html Slugmax Tue, 20 Jul 2021 15:45:52 -0400 Holiday Weekend It's a holiday weekend here in Canada, most people have Monday off for Victoria Day (in Quebec of course they have to be different and celebrate Patriot's Day). We're still seeing nice weather, although it's a bit dry here with no real rainfall in about three weeks. Hopefully that changes next week - but as I mentioned in my last post, the weather has been nice for bike riding, and I was able to get out for a ride yesterday and today.

COVID-wise things are finally getting better, and our region's curfew will end on May 28th. I read recently that Canada has surpassed the US for first-shot percentage. The culture here is a bit different than in the US, at least as far as vaccine hesitancy. Most people want the vaccine, and we don't see the political divide on this issue like in the US. So I think the final percentage of people vaccinated will be quite a bit higher than south of the border. Like many people, we're anxious to travel again and visit relatives - both in Canada and the US, and it's looking like by August we will be able to do that safely.

Tags: holiday, pandemic, vaccine

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/holiday-weekend.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./holiday-weekend.html Slugmax Sun, 23 May 2021 13:31:58 -0400 Quebec Updates We've had some nice weather the past week or so in Quebec, today it is 22c and sunny. This despite the official forecasts threatening rain every day. I'm not sure how they get it wrong so often, but I'm not complaining in this case. The nicer weather has allowed me to get out on my bike more often.

We've slipped back into a COVID red zone in the Eastern Townships, averaging about 380 new cases/6 deaths per week for the past few weeks. People are getting careless with the warmer weather, or maybe getting a false sense of security with a lot of 'one shotters' walking around now. Canada had vaccine supply issues early on, and so delayed people's second shots to 12+ weeks. My own second shot won't be until mid-August, despite getting my first shot in April. So for now I am still being careful.

Tags: quebec, pandemic

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/quebec-updates.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./quebec-updates.html Slugmax Sat, 08 May 2021 13:25:38 -0400 Spring in Quebec and Recent Reads Spring in Quebec is iffy - you get some beautiful weather followed by sub-freezing temps, wind and snow. The inevitable mid-march cold front plus snow came in last night, and is here for a few days anyway, if the forecast is to be believed.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/spring-in-quebec-and-recent-reads.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./spring-in-quebec-and-recent-reads.html Slugmax Sun, 14 Mar 2021 12:31:21 -0400 A Bit More on the 2020 Election Just a bit more on why I think Biden is going to win in tomorrow's election. In 2017, I talked a bit about Trump:

All that said, if I may be an optimist, I hope that the reaction to the Trump presidency will shake voters from their apathy and slowly move mainstream policies in a progressive direction.

I no longer think the last bit is true about progressive policies - if that is to happen in the US, it won't be under a Biden Presidency. But about apathy, I think what Trump has done is motivate independents and young people to vote against him (and even some republicans). Not necessarily for Biden, but against Trump. People who might have voted for Hillary but stayed home in 2016 are now highly motivated to vote. I think this is why we're seeing huge early vote totals in some of the battleground states, and why I think Biden will win.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/a-bit-more-on-the-2020-election.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./a-bit-more-on-the-2020-election.html Slugmax Mon, 02 Nov 2020 09:07:26 -0500 Commentary on the 2020 US Presidential Election I predict Biden will win the election. Nothing is certain, of course, but it's pretty clear that Trump and the republican establishment are worried, with their attempts to suppress votes any way they can.

If I were still living in the US, I would have voted for Bernie in the democratic primaries - not that it would have done any good. It seemed like no matter what, Biden was going to be nominated. The democratic establishment went to great lengths to protect and push Biden's nomination forward. Consider that Trump was impeached not because his regime kidnapped infants and children and tortured asylum seekers, but because he tried to smear Joe Biden.

But Biden is just a status-quo candidate for the corporatist machine that rules Washington. I suspect that wall street and the corporate lobbyists can't wait to see him in office. Trump proved impossible to control, always saying the quiet part out loud. His corruption was on full display. Biden is a savvy politician, and won't make such mistakes.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/commentary-on-the-2020-us-presidential-election.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./commentary-on-the-2020-us-presidential-election.html Slugmax Sun, 01 Nov 2020 16:21:32 -0500 Freedom If you choose not to wear a mask when around other people, because you think that this is somehow an expression of your freedom, you have fallen into a trap.

If everyone succumbs to this line of thinking, and no one wears masks, the COVID-19 virus will quickly spread. Hospital ICUs will overflow, emergency rooms will overflow, and hospital waiting rooms will overflow. Soon, people who have life-threatening injuries or medical problems will die because they can't get medical treatment fast enough.

When this happens, governments will shut down businesses and schools again, and you will be at home, in lockdown. You will not be free to visit friends or family, or go out to get your haircut or go to the park.

You will not be free.

If you choose to wear a mask when around other people, and your fellow citizens do the same, the virus won't spread as fast and the hospitals will be able to keep up. Businesses and schools can stay open. You will be able to go out and visit friends and family, or get a haircut, or go to the park. You will be free.

Wear a mask and be free.

Tags: pandemic, masks, freedom

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/freedom.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./freedom.html Slugmax Sat, 08 Aug 2020 16:32:57 -0400 Return to Cynicism When the pandemic started I had a thought that perhaps it might be good in the long-term, despite being horrific in the short-term for many. Here is what I was thinking (these apply to the US and/or Canada, the two countries I have lived in, but I suspect these observations could apply to many countries):

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/return-to-cynicism.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./return-to-cynicism.html Slugmax Fri, 03 Jul 2020 13:21:18 -0400 Quebec Pandemic Update Canada's PM said today that return to normalcy won't happen until there is a vaccine. This is 12-18 months away. The modeling released today also assumed smaller outbreaks over the next year after this initial one is contained. Each outbreak would require strict social distancing measures. I'm thankful for the honesty - we've heard all this before in various places, but it is nice to hear it "officially".

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/quebec-pandemic-update.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./quebec-pandemic-update.html Slugmax Fri, 10 Apr 2020 13:54:30 -0400 Pandemic News Overload The past few weeks have been stressful for pretty much everyone in the world, to say the least. The Covid-19 pandemic is radically altering our lives, like it or not. My wife and I find ourselves having to take breaks from the news, obsessing over it causes physical sickness.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/pandemic-news-overload.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./pandemic-news-overload.html Slugmax Thu, 19 Mar 2020 16:18:03 -0400 In Search of a Simpler Web This site is an expression of what the web should have evolved into. It is statically generated or hand-crafted HTML with a bit of CSS. There are no cookies, there is no javascript. There are no ads and no social media buttons. Just original content, mostly text. Hyperlinks and reasonably-sized media where appropriate. Optional HTTPS for older client support. It is readable on mobile devices and text browsers, and is simple to parse for screen readers. It loads fast in any web client.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/in-search-of-a-simpler-web.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./in-search-of-a-simpler-web.html Slugmax Tue, 18 Feb 2020 16:47:02 -0500 SDF Motd Site Archive I've had issues with my SDF motd.org site recently, the powers-that-be decided to summarily remove the python v2 packages, rendering my blog of 11 years dead. I had last generated a static copy last December, so that is what I have archived here, for posterity. The one missing post 'OTR for the Holidays' I've re-posted here with the original post date.

Sadly, any comments left by visitors can no longer be displayed, but all the posts are there and can be accessed from the left sidebar by date.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/sdf-motd-site-archive.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./sdf-motd-site-archive.html Slugmax Mon, 17 Feb 2020 16:17:23 -0500 OTR for the Holidays Happy Holidays! We're getting some snow finally after a pretty dry December. It was actually a green Christmas here, which as you can imagine is unusual for Quebec. But my wife and I have managed to get out and x-country ski a few times with what little we did get. So it hasn't been a total loss.

]]>https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/otr-for-the-holidays.html https://slugmax.tx0.org/blog/./otr-for-the-holidays.html Slugmax Mon, 30 Dec 2019 15:26:09 -0500